Bengaluru, 26 Sept

A total of 41 members of a pro-Kannada outfit were arrested for allegedly storming into a five-star hotel here during a Hindi Diwas-related event and causing a disturbance, police said on Friday.

The Ministry of Home Affairs' Rajbhasha Samiti had organised a ‘Hindi Promotion Meeting’ at the hotel, attended by six Members of Parliament, when the activists barged in on Thursday, sources said. Raising slogans, they alleged the meeting was an attempt to impose Hindi on non-Hindi-speaking states.

According to police, the Parliamentary Committee on Official Language had organised a meeting from 23 September to 25 September at the hotel on Race Course Road. On the final day, the session began at 9.30am.

“Between 10.45am and 11am, about 30 to 40 members of an organisation illegally entered the venue, obstructed the work of officials, and created a disturbance, causing a temporary disruption,” the police statement said.

The protestors were taken into custody and the situation was brought under control. Police said 41 activists were later produced before the 1st ACJM Court, which remanded them to judicial custody.